[Huinesoron]

Since we have a Mandos thread, I was wondering what, exactly, the Halls of Mandos were like. HoME XII gives a good overview of what elves are there for, but to find out what they actually looked like I went clear back to HoME I:

Originally Posted by HoME I: The Coming of the Valar

Vefantur [Mandos] and Fui [Nienna] his wife of tears… fared away far to the northward of those regions, where beneath the roots of the most cold and northerly of the Mountains of Valinor, that rise here again almost to their height nigh Arvalin, they begged Aule to delve them a hall…. Very vast were those caverns that they made stretching even down under the Shadowy Seas, and they are full of gloom and filled with echoes, and all that deep abode is known to Gods and Elves as Mandos. There in a sable Hall sat Vefantur, and he called that hall with his own name Ve. It was lit only with a single vessel placed in the centre, wherein there lay some gleaming drops of the pale dew of Silpion: it was draped with dark vapours and its floors and columns were of jet. Thither in after days fared the Elves of all the clans who were by illhap slain with weapons or did die of grief for those that were slain - and only so might the Eldar die, and then it was only for a time. There Mandos spake their doom, and there they waited in the darkness, dreaming of their past deeds, until such time as he appointed when they might again be born into their children.

I love the Book of Lost Tales in part because it does give these detailed, physical descriptions. Tolkien wasn't messing about - he knew exactly what Mandos' hall looked like.

There's a few really interesting points I want to draw out, quite aside from all the changing-around of names:

-The Eldar are described here as 'dreaming', and it's not clear how well that meshes with the later interpretation of the Halls as a place of healing and repentance. If we want to merge the two, we could imagine that their dreams are the way they go through that process - by reliving events over and over, they can come to terms with them, good or bad. It seems they're 'awake' on their first arrival, when Mandos speaks their doom (and in the case of Luthien, gets persuaded otherwise), but then they 'sleep'.

The counterpoint to this is that Feanor is mentioned in the published Silm as sitting in the Halls, where 'sleeping' would fit just as easily; and Finwe thinks about how he might see Elwe 'in the halls of Mandos'. So if 'sleep' is still in play, it would have to be a sort of waking sleep.

-The Halls of Mandos, in this original incarnation, are exactly that: multiple Halls in the region known as Mandos. Ve, the hall of Mandos himself, is one of them, but Fui Nienna also has a hall (its roof is made of bat wings), and there are other 'shadowy folk' who may have their own.

This concept, at least, is explicitly rejected by the published Silm: it's said of Vaire's weavings that 'the halls of Mandos that ever widen as the ages pass are clothed with them', which indicates that the Halls, plural, are the abode of the dead elves.

-The fate of Men is wildly different in this text: they go to Nienna's hall in Mandos, where she judges them:

Originally Posted by HoME I: The Coming of the Valar

Slaughters and fires, hungers and mishaps, diseases and blows dealt in the dark, cruelty and bitter cold and anguish and their own folly bring them here; and Fui reads their hearts. Some then she keeps in Mandos beneath the mountains, and some she drives forth beyond the hills and Melko siezes them and bears them to Angamandi, or the Hells of Iron, where they have evil days. Some too, and these are the many, she sends aboard the black ship Mornie, who lieth ever and anon in a dark harbour of the North awaiting those times when the sad pomp winds to the beach down the slow rugged paths from Mandos.

Then, when she is laden, of her own accord she spreads her sable sails and before a slow wind coasts down those shores. Then do all aboard as they come South cast looks of utter longing and regret to that low place amid the hills where Valinor may just be glimpsed upon the far-off plain; and that opening is nigh Taniquetil where is the strand of Eldamar. No more do they see of that bright place, but borne away dwell after on the wide plains of Arvalin. There do they wander in the dusk, camping as they may; yet are they not utterly without song, and they can see the stars, and wait in patience till the Great End come.

Few are they and happy indeed for whom at a season doth Nornore the herald of the Gods set out. Then ride they with him in chariots or upon good horses down into the vale of Valinor and feast in the halls of Valmar, dwelling in the houses of the Gods until the Great End come. Far away are they from the black mountains of the North or the misty plains of Arvalin, and music and fair light is theirs, and joy.

This section has a proper ancient feel: Arvalin is Asphodel or Hel, Valmar is serving as Valhalla or the Isles of the Blessed, and Angband is being a very Christian Hell. It's certainly much more derived from the Primary World mythology than the Gift of Men later became.

But I daresay it holds special significance for you, Urwen, because it's the setting for the final tragedy and triumph of the House of Hurin:

Originally Posted by HoME II: Turambar and the Foaloke

Yet it is said that when Úrin was dead his shade fared into the woods seeking Mavwin, and long those twain haunted the woods about the fall of Silver Bowl bewailing their children. But the Elves of Kôr have told, and they know, that at last Úrin and Mavwin fared to Mandos, and Nienóri was not there nor Túrin their son. Túrambar indeed had followed Nienóri along the black pathways to the doors of Fui, but Fui would not open to them, neither would Vefántur. Yet now the prayers of Úrin and Mavwin came even to Manwë, and the Gods had mercy on their unhappy fate, so that those twain Túrin and Nienóri entered into Fôs’Almir, the bath of flame, even as Urwendi and her maidens had done in ages past before the first rising of the Sun, and so were all their sorrows and stains washed away, and they dwelt as shining Valar among the blessed ones, and now the love of that brother and sister is very fair; but Turambar indeed shall stand beside Fionwë in the Great Wrack, and Melko and his drakes shall curse the sword of Mormakil.

Yup: Tolkien's most messed-up family continue to be messed-up even to the last: Turin and Nienor are locked out of the Halls of the Dead for reasons unstated (coughincestcough), and then when Hurin and Morwen manage to accidentally win lenience for them, it means they don't get to see their kids ever again; but hey, at least their incest has divine approval!

Also Turin, now a god, will not only get to stab Melkor, but also to take out his anger on as many dragons as he can lay his hands on. Which, honestly, I can't blame him for.

hS